The Justice Department will not conduct a criminal probe into allegations that CIA officials spied on Senate Intelligence Committee staffers or that a secret CIA report was improperly removed from agency computer files by Senate staffers, according to a new report.

McClatchy News reported on Thursday that the Justice Department would not wade into the unprecedented feud between the spy agency and the Intelligence panel. The fight exploded into public view in March when Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) took to the Senate floor and accused the CIA of interfering with her panel’s investigation into interrogation tactics used by the agency on terror detainees during the Bush administration.

“The department carefully reviewed the matters referred to us and did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal investigation,” Peter Carr, a Justice Department spokesman, said in a statement.

The CIA’s counsel and inspector general were informed about DOJ’s decision on Wednesday, according to a DOJ spokeswoman, while the Intelligence Committee was told on Thursday.

Other Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said they believed the alleged actions of the CIA were inappropriate and that they will look to an investigation into the matter led by the Senate sergeant at arms.

“I think what the CIA did to my senators was wrong,” Reid said at a news conference Thursday. “I’m going to drop it at that.”

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), a member of the Intelligence Committee and a key player in the acrimonious battle with the CIA, indicated in a blistering statement that he was furious with the DOJ’s decision. He stressed that he “strongly” believes Intelligence staff did not do anything illegal.

“The American people need to have the certainty that both Congress and the administration are vigorously overseeing our intelligence agencies,” Udall said. “The Justice Department’s decision is troubling and draws a false equivalency between congressional staff fulfilling their constitutional obligations and an executive branch agency potentially breaking the law.”

At the center of the dispute was a super-secret report ordered by former CIA Director Leon Panetta and how Senate Intelligence Committee staffers got a copy of that document. The Senate staffers reportedly obtained the report through the CIA’s own computer system, which led to allegations by agency officials that those aides may have broken the law.

Feinstein, in return, angrily charged that the CIA had improperly monitored actions by the Intelligence Committee and was improperly trying to evade congressional oversight.

The Senate sergeant at arms is now conducting its own investigation into how Intelligence Committee staffers got ahold of the document.

Feinstein said in a brief interview Thursday that she believes DOJ’s decision is a “good” one.

“I’m very happy,” Feinstein said. Referring to her staffers, she said, “We have a lot of young people, with families, and with this it’s a very hard thing to have hanging over your head. And they’ve done a very good job. It’s just a good day.”

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said he is “pleased they’ve concluded their part of it, and we’ll see what the sergeant at arms does.” id

“I think they have done a thorough review and did what they thought was best,” he added.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said while he was pleased that Senate staff won’t be prosecuted, the CIA “still has some very serious questions to answer about the unauthorized search of Senate files and whether CIA officials believe they have the authority to do this again.”

Current CIA Director John Brennan has been working for the past several months to “de-escalate tensions” with Feinstein and the Intelligence Committee, especially Democrats on the secretive panel.

Brennan has privately assured Reid and other top Democrats that the agency will cooperate with the sergeant at arms’ investigation.

Top White House officials like Kathy Ruemmler, the president’s former counsel who recently left her post, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have also tried to mediate the dispute.

The Justice Department had been conducting parallel criminal investigations into allegations by both the CIA and the Intelligence Committee, but it appears now that no formal charges will ever be filed in the standoff.

Despite concerns from CIA officials and defense hawks, Feinstein pushed through her committee a request to declassify the summary and findings of a 6,300-page report on the agency’s practices under the Bush administration. That declassification request is now under White House review, but Democrats have warned they may push to declassify the full report.